Friday, October 24, 2008

Hayward Earthquake to Cause Big Damage

More estimates on what the next Hayward earthquake can do. I'm surprised at the big difference between an M6.8 and M7.0, but that's the life of an exponential!

It's sad that there really isn't much anyone can do now. For years I've been following stories on the terrible things they were building around the Hayward, such as filling in sag ponds. But nothing could be done. It would be like telling the Americans: "Hey, you can't just keep refinancing your house, and spending the money on Hummers!" Such is life.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, what is really frightening is that a lot of hospitals, schools, libraries and government buildings are built on or close to the fault - the land was cheap. I just attended a 3-day meeting last week in Hayward on the recurrence of the 1868 Hayward earthquake. The East Bay Area is in the window of opportunity for the next big event. - JDA, Sacramento, CA

Harold Asmis said...

I shuddered when I heard they were building on sag ponds! Now, is it greedy developers, or people wanting to underpay (as opposed to more safety)?